Real-World Advisory
Advisory
Simon originates, invests in and advises on complex opportunities across energy, infrastructure, mining and adjacent industrial sectors in the Asia Pacific. His work spans the full cycle, from identifying and funding early-stage deals through to capital formation, strategic advisory, execution support and board-level counsel.
He brings to every engagement the perspective of someone who has been a founder, an originator, a principal, a developer and an operator, not a theorist. He understands what it takes to carry early risk, because he has done it himself.
Five Focus Areas
Focus Area 1: Project and Deal Origination
Simon identifies, creates and sponsors early-stage opportunities, committing his own capital, time and credibility before institutional investors are in the room. This is the most distinctive aspect of his profile and the one that most clearly separates him from advisors who work only on mandates others have already built.
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Focus Area 1: Project and Deal Origination
Simon identifies, creates and sponsors early-stage opportunities, committing his own capital, time and credibility before institutional investors are in the room. This is the most distinctive aspect of his profile and the one that most clearly separates him from advisors who work only on mandates others have already built.
This typically includes:
- Identifying and structuring unsolicited project and deal opportunities from first principles
- Providing or arranging early-stage, high-risk seed capital to advance a concept to a fundable stage
- Taking on founding risk as a project sponsor before regulatory approval, commercial agreements or institutional backing are secured
- Building the early team, partnerships and credibility required to move an opportunity from concept to market
- Positioning originated projects and platforms for institutional capital engagement once the foundational risk has been absorbed
Simon’s track record includes two significant originated projects, Indonesia’s first utility-scale unsolicited Solar PV power plant (COD 2020, US$ 50M revenue stream), developed without a government tender or institutional sponsor on either side; and the US$ 10B+ Indonesia–Singapore clean energy export initiative, originated independently from the Indonesian side in response to Singapore’s open call for renewable energy import proposals.
Focus Area 2: Board and Senior Strategic Advisory
Simon provides independent, principal-level input to boards and senior executives facing high-stakes decisions, complex counterparties or strategically significant mandates in the Asia Pacific.
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Focus Area 2: Board and Senior Strategic Advisory
Simon provides independent, principal-level input to boards and senior executives facing high-stakes decisions, complex counterparties or strategically significant mandates in the Asia Pacific.
This typically includes:
- Strategic review, challenge and independent perspective on direction
- Sharper framing of market, investor and stakeholder positioning
- Senior judgement on commercial trade-offs and risk
- Independent input in ambiguous, politically sensitive or high-complexity situations
- Early-stage strategic guidance before capital, time and credibility are committed
This is for boards and principals who need a candid, experienced voice in the room; not validation of decisions already made.
Focus Area 3: Transaction, Capital and Project Positioning
Simon advises on how projects, platforms and opportunities should be structured and positioned for investors, lenders, strategic partners and senior decision-makers.
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Focus Area 3: Transaction, Capital and Project Positioning
Simon advises on how projects, platforms and opportunities should be structured and positioned for investors, lenders, strategic partners and senior decision-makers.
This typically includes:
- Refining and sharpening the commercial and investment narrative
- Improving sponsor, investor and partner alignment
- Identifying structural, credibility or positioning weaknesses before they become deal-breakers
- Preparing leadership teams for capital engagement, strategic partnership discussions or high-level negotiations
- Bridging the gap between what a project promises and what counterparties need to believe
This is where Simon’s direct experience on both sides of transactions, as a developer, a capital raiser and an investor, is most commercially relevant.
Focus Area 4: Execution Support in Complex Environments
Simon works with leadership teams where a mandate is credible in principle but proving difficult to move forward in practice.
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Focus Area 4: Execution Support in Complex Environments
Simon works with leadership teams where a mandate is credible in principle but proving difficult to move forward in practice.
This typically includes:
- Resolving execution ambiguity or situations where a deal, business or project has lost direction and coherence
- Aligning internal and external stakeholders around a workable path
- Supporting decision-making in politically sensitive or multi-party environments
- Assisting the transition from strategy to execution with an emphasis on commercial realities
- Identifying where plans are overbuilt, undercosted or structurally misaligned and designing a reset for implementation
Simon does not only advise on what should happen. He assesses what can be delivered, given real constraints, and helps leaders make decisions accordingly.
Focus Area 5: Restructuring, Special Situations and Problem-Solving
Simon supports funds, businesses, projects and principals facing underperformance, stalled momentum, misalignment or strategic uncertainty.
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Focus Area 5: Restructuring, Special Situations and Problem-Solving
Simon supports funds, businesses, projects and principals facing underperformance, stalled momentum, misalignment or strategic uncertainty.
This typically includes:
- Resetting the strategic approach or repositioning deals
- Commercial restructuring and re-prioritisation
- Principal and stakeholder realignment
- Targeted intervention in troubled or stalled situations
- Restoring direction, accountability and forward momentum in organisations or projects that have lost them
His most effective interventions in this area have come from combining investor logic with operational realism. Identifying where a situation has genuinely lost its basis, and being direct about what is required to restore it.
WHO SIMON WORKS WITH
- Boards and owners who need senior, independent judgement on complex or high-stakes situations
- Funds and investors evaluating project or platform opportunities in the Asia Pacific
- Developers and sponsors seeking sharper positioning for capital engagement or strategic partnerships
- Leadership teams facing execution challenges, stakeholder complexity or commercial bottlenecks
- Businesses and principals in special situations requiring experienced intervention
THE BOTTOM LINE
Advisory engagements are selective and outcome-focused. The emphasis is on situations where senior experience, commercial judgement and execution capability can materially improve the quality of decisions and the likelihood of progress and ultimately success.
Simon is not the right advisor for every mandate. He is the right advisor when the situation is genuinely complex, the stakes are real, and the client needs someone who has been there before.
“Twenty-five years of results across Asia Pacific: advising, investing, and executing where complexity meets capital. If you have a transaction, mandate, or challenge that requires senior experience and regional depth, contact Simon.”